Contractual solution to the tragedy of property right in coastal fisheries

This article aims to analyze how private property regimes can co-exist with common property regimes in a coastal area. The case study shows how the dynamics of private property and common property right holders is in creating commitment to make symbiosis in resource use. This is based on a case study in two villages in West Lombok, Indonesia, where pearl-culture as a private property resource exists in a common property regime. This is a successful story in dealing with the tragedy of property rights in the country wherein established institutional arrangement is still absent. Nevertheless, this may be site specific, and fragile if there is no institutional arrangement combining formal and informal rules and involving both formal and informal authorities. To make a robust solution, multilevel solution must be considered: national, local, and community level, with reference to Japan case.     

Interannual variability of the Kuroshio Extension and its relation to the Southern Oscillation/El Niño

The interannual variability of the temperature structure of the Kuroshio Extension is studied by establishing time series for the period 1950 to 1970 and then comparing it with the time series of sea level differences across the North Equatorial Current obtained by Wyrtki (1975). First, the present analysis shows a significant correlation between the interannual fluctuation of the Kuroshio Extension and the eddy activity south of the Kuroshio axis, suggesting the importance of the eddy-driven mechanism. Secondly, spectral analysis shows close connections between the Kuroshio Extension and the North Equatorial Current with a reasonable time lag of about 1.5 years. This time lag of the mid-latitude variability is also supported by other independent data. In particular, the present preliminary study strongly suggests that the bimodal behavior of the Kuroshio path south of Japan and the intensity of the Kuroshio Countercurrent are closely connected with the Southern Oscillation/El Niño.     

Unusual behavior of the Kuroshio Current System from winter 1996 to summer 1997 revealed by ADEOS-OCTS and other data— Suggestion of topographically forced alternating-jet instability

While the Advanced Earth Observing Satellite (ADEOS) was operating, the Kuroshio and the Kuroshio Extension, or the Kuroshio Current System, exhibited unusual behavior from the winter of 1996 to the summer of 1997. This behavior of the Kuroshio Current System has been closely studied using a time series of satellite observation images of SST and ocean color obtained by ADEOS-OCTS, reinforced by SST images obtained by NOAA-AVHRR. Our findings include (i) a long lasting, very southerly path of the Kuroshio Extension; (ii) a Kuroshio path very distant from Japan with the following alternating-jet-like north-south flow pattern of the Kuroshio Extension, which occurred twice, once in February and once in April 1997, as independent events and which was observed to be affected by the bottom topography of the Izu-Ogasawara Ridge and Trench, and of the Japan Trench; (iii) cutting off of a cold water mass after the February event; and (iv) the formation of a vortex pair after the April event. A new mechanism is suggested for the formation of the alternating-jet flow pattern: a topographically forced alternating-jet instability (AJI). An SST-Chlorophyll Diagram (T-Chl Diagram) generated using simultaneous data from a single satellite is useful for analyzing the water mass structure of this region, including biological processes.     

Wind-wave coupled downward-bursting boundary layer (DBBL) beneath the sea surface

By synthesizing data of the turbulent structure beneath wind waves in laboratory tanks, with some re-analyses, we propose the existence of a particular turbulent boundary layer which is directly coupled with wind waves, a downward-bursting boundary layer (DBBL) in water beneath wind waves. The data set indicates that the depth of this layer is from 3 to 7, or about 5 times the significant wave height of wind waves. The data observed in laboratory tanks agree with data of acoustic observations of bubble clouds under breaking wind waves in the sea made by Thorpe (1986, 1992). It is inferred that DBBL is formed in equilibrium with the local wind waves, as a common feature from initially generated wind waves, young laboratory wind waves to mature wind waves in the sea.     

Heat balance of the surface layer of the sea at ocean weather station T

Heat balance of the upper 200 m of the sea south of Japan is studied, by the use of marine meteorological and oceanographic data at Ocean Weather Station T (29°N, 135°E), intensively obtained from June 1950 to November 1953. Local time change of the heat content in the surface layer and the net heat flux through the air-sea interface are calculated directly from these data, and the heat convergence in the sea is estimated from their residuals. Regarding the relative importance of one- and three-dimensional processes, it is found that, on a time scale of a few days to one month, the variation of heat content depends on heat convergence in the sea, while on a seasonal time scale, the heat content is determined primarily by the heat flux through the sea surface in December through February, by heat convergence within the sea from March to May, and by both processes from June to November. It is inferred that the heat convergence in the sea is caused by advection of water masses which are bounded by sharp fronts. Spectral analysis of sea surface temperature indicates that they typically take 2 to 3 days to pass the station, and their typical size is estimated as around 20 km by assuming the typical advection velocity of water masses to be 10 cm s^?1.     

Low-Luminosity Extra-Galactic H2O Masers

Recent high-resolution observations of low-luminosity extra-galactic H₂O masers towards M 82, M 51, and NGC 4051 are presented in this contribution. These observations were conducted using the very large array (VLA). The general observational properties of these masers are discussed.     

Ejecta size-velocity relation derived from the distribution of the secondary craters of kilometer-sized craters on Mars

The relation between the size and velocity of impact crater ejecta has been studied by both laboratory experiments and numerical modeling. An alternative method, used here, is to analyze the record of past impact events, such as the distribution of secondary craters on planetary surfaces, as described by Vickery (Icarus 67 (1986) 224; Geophys. Res. Lett. 14 (1987) 726). We first applied the method to lunar images taken by the CLEMENTINE mission, which revealed that the size-velocity relations of ejecta from craters 32 and 40 km in diameter were similar to those derived by Vickery for a crater 39 km in diameter. Next, we studied the distribution of small craters in the vicinity of kilometer-sized craters on three images from the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) on board the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS). If these small craters are assumed to be secondaries ejected from the kilometer-sized crater in each image, the ejection velocities are of hundreds of meters per second. These data fill a gap between the previous results of Vickery and those of laboratory studies.     

Adjustment of Wind Waves to Sudden Changes of Wind Speed

An experiment was conducted in a small wind-wave facility at the Ocean Engineering Laboratory, California, to address the following question: when the wind speed changes rapidly, how quickly and in what manner do the short wind waves respond? To answer this question we have produced a very rapid change in wind speed between U _low (4.6 m s^?1) and U _high (7.1 m s^?1). Water surface elevation and air turbulence were monitored up to a fetch of 5.5 m. The cycle of increasing and decreasing wind speed was repeated 20 times to assure statistical accuracy in the measurement by taking an ensemble mean. In this way, we were able to study in detail the processes by which the young laboratory wind waves adjust to wind speed perturbations. We found that the wind-wave response occurs over two time scales determined by local equilibrium adjustment and fetch adjustment, Δt ₁/T = O(10) and Δt ₂/T = O(100), respectively, in the current tank. The steady state is characterized by a constant non-dimensional wave height (H/gT ² or equivalently, the wave steepness for linear gravity waves) depending on wind speed. This equilibrium state was found in our non-steady experiments to apply at all fetches, even during the long transition to steady state, but only after a short initial relaxation Δt ₁/T of O(10) following a sudden change in wind speed. The complete transition to the new steady state takes much longer, Δt ₂/T of O(100) at the largest fetch, during which time energy propagates over the entire fetch along the rays (dx/dt = c _g) and grows under the influence of wind pumping. At the same time, frequency downshifts. Although the current study is limited in scale variations, we believe that the suggestion that the two adjustment time scales are related to local equilibrium adjustment and fetch adjustment is also applicable to the ocean.     

Abundance and biomass of scyphomedusae, Aurelia aurita and Chrysaora melanaster, and Ctenophora, Bolinopsis mikado, with estimates of their feeding impact on zooplankton in Tokyo Bay, Japan

The abundance of a scyphomedusae, Aurelia aurita and Chrysaora melanaster, and a ctenophore, Bolinopsis mikado, in Tokyo Bay was investigated from 1995 to 1997. Aurelia aurita appeared throughout the year with a peak in abundance occurring from spring to summer. The average abundance and biomass during this period for the three successive years was 4.8, 43.8 and 3.2 ind. m⁻², and 1.02, 10.0 and 0.42 gC m⁻², respectively. The values in 1995 and 1997 were comparable with those previously reported for A. aurita abundance from 1990 to 1992. Values were very high in 1996, but the size composition of the bell diameter did not differ from other years, which suggested the absence of food limitation for A. aurita in 1996. C. melanaster was scarce over the survey period (<1.0 ind. m⁻²) while Bolinopsis mikado was more abundant during September to December, with maximum values of 172 ind. m⁻² and 0.33 gC m⁻² observed in December 1997. The weight-specific clearance rate for A. aurita on zooplankton (mainly copepods and their nauplii) was 0.16 ± 0.05 lgWW⁻¹ h⁻¹ (n = 13). Population clearance rate peaked from spring to summer, with average levels of 14.2%, 162% and 5.0% day⁻¹ obtained from spring to summer for respective years. Population clearance rates for B. mikado, calculated based on minimum carbon requirements, was 7.1% day⁻¹ in December 1997. Consequently, the trophic role of gelatinous zooplankton as predators in Tokyo Bay is important all the year round, considering the high impact of A. aurita from spring to summer and B. mikado from autumn to winter.